Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Eliot Fintushel" <show AT fintushel.com>]

I'm a student of biblical Hebrew, building on my rudimentary childhood 
familiarity, and a dramatist--I'm preparing an ensemble piece, in Hebrew and 
English, with lots of movement, for dancers and actors. Part of our text 
comes from Job, and I'm trying to understand it as well as I can . . .

I notice that the Hebrew word ordinarily translated as"bless" here seems to 
mean its opposite--curse. I know that lots of people have commented on this 
over the centuries. Can you tell me what your take is on this, or what is 
the current consensus, if any? In particular, is it simply a scribal 
obfuscation, a matter of substituting a less offensive word, or is this use 
of ברך not unique to Job, or does it possibly point to something deeper?

Eliot Fintushel
Imaginists Theatre Collective
Santa Rosa, CA